


Geneva

by shinethrough



Category: Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M, Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 13:12:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8103745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinethrough/pseuds/shinethrough
Summary: A poem about a girl named Geneva Dunsany. Originally published at Three If By Space.





	

GENEVA

She chooses a horse, a brindle mare  
Rides as dusk envelops the valley  
Grasping the last straws of daylight

She gallops into the stable yard  
Before the groom closes the gate  
The clang of cast iron behind her

Miss Geneva Dunsany never knew fear  
In her childhood home  
Her father was kind, hiding only  
His implacable grief and sadness

(Still, he betrayed her  
Gave her away.)

She didn’t know that not all servants were born to serve  
She was drawn to his fire, never having suffered a burn  
Soon to be given away, she’d take what she wanted  
_Choose a safe day,_ he said  
_So you won’t get with child_

Geneva, now Lady Ellesmere, completed her education  
Not long after her marriage  
Her husband was kind, until he wasn’t  
His careful veneer, vanished in an instant

(Her body betrayed her  
Gave her away.)

She didn’t know what men can do  
Or see the fury that lies just beneath  
Until it was much too late  
_You are not what I paid for,_ he said  
_You worthless slattern wench_

She writes a letter to her mother every day  
Burns it before the ink is dry

She speaks now only to her child  
Keeps him safe in the drum of her belly

She thinks of the girl who used to ride  
Into misty foothills, heedless, wild

When she said, _I will not give that old man my maidenhood_  
What she meant was, _I will choose the father of my son_.


End file.
